On Sunday, January 31, 2016 in St. Vladimir's Seminary's Metropolitan Philip Auditorium, the Board of Trustees and Faculty will award a Doctor of Canon Law degree honoris causa to former St. Vladimir's Trustee and Antiochian Archdiocese Chancellor, Charles Richard Ajalat. The ceremony will be followed by the 33rd Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture, offered by the Reverend Dr. John Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The academic convocation and lecture will begin at 7 p.m. on the St. Vladimir's Yonkers, NY campus.

Charles Ajalat was born into a pious Antiochian Orthodox family, and as a young man earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, and then a doctoral degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

As an outstanding lay leader in the Antiochian Archdiocese, his influence has been felt throughout many Orthodox Christian communities in North America. Charles has been a key figure in many efforts, some of which are:

~the founding of the first conference of canonical Orthodox bishops of SCOBA, at Antiochian Village in Ligonier, PA, which together with its follow-up conferences are the predecessors to the Assembly of Canonical Bishops of the United States of America

On December 20, 2015, by the Grace of God and the blessings of Sayidna Anthony (Michaels), bishop of Toledo and the Midwest, the parish community of St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Sylvania (Toledo), Ohio came together in a “Double Celebration” event: the consecration of the new holy utensils for the altar and the consecration of the newly constructed St. Elias Little Miracles Montessori School. Archpriest Ayman Kfouf inaugurated both projects shortly after being assigned to St. Elias as the new pastor in November, 2013. Sayidna Anthony's visit thus represented the successful culmination of over two years of hard work by the people and pastor of St. Elias’ Church.

His Grace Bishop Anthony presided over a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. The parishioners with friends and families joined the divine services in praises and thanksgiving. During the sermon, Sayidna Anthony affirmed that God took on our humanity out of love for us and to redeem the fallen nature of our humanity and to raise us to new and everlasting life with Him, in communion with His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and by His Holy Spirit.

On Friday, January 8, 2016, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph hosted a dinner at the Archdiocesan Headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey in honor of His Excellency Antoine Chedid, Ambassador of Lebanon to the United States, on the occasion of his retirement. Ambassador Chedid has distinguished himself as a man of peace and positive action, and is well loved and respected by all who have come to work with him and know him.

The dinner was attended by many members of the clergy from various denominations, as well as members of the diplomatic corps. Metropolitan Joseph honored Ambassador Chedid by awarding him the Medal of the Order of St. Raphael, the highest award given by the Antiochian Archdiocese.

Fr. John Hamatie brought Holy Communion to Selwa on her 95th birthdayThe Central Florida community of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church of downtown Orlando is saddened to share the news of the passing into eternal rest of one of the communities eldest and dearest members, Mrs. Selwa Hiresh, originally of Lebanon.

Mrs. Hiresh, aged 95, lived a life focused on her love of Jesus Christ and living in the way that God would have wanted her to have lived.

Selwa had the most beautiful smile and everyone who ever met her instantly became friends with this dear classy lady.

She and her late husband +Michel had been blessed to have had four children: Mitri, (LouLou), Samia (Kamal), Sammy (Karen), and Lillian (Farid). Selwa was blessed with ten grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and the dearest of friends. Selwa for many many years attended St. George's and always wanted to go to church to light a candle. She loved church.

For all Priests, Deacons, Readers and Parishes:The AV Bookstore announces their January White Sale!Purchase The Liturgikon ($50) and The Book of the Epistles ($60) for $30.00 each, no limit!

Greetings and Blessings in the Name of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ!

We are pleased to present and commend the tireless effort of Dr. Adnan Trabulsi in compiling and editing this monumental work of The Complete Works of St. Raphael Hawaweeny that are being published collectively for the first time in Arabic as a three volume set. By his work, Dr. Trabulsi has assured that the legacy of this great saint will not only be preserved, but will be made known to the many Arabic-speaking people both inside and outside of America who have not yet come to know St. Raphael.

This set of three volumes is being made available for the first time in Arabic and includes the writings of this Antiochian saint that were originally published in the "WORD" magazine from 1905 to 1915.

Faithtree is a parish-based ministry that provides educational programs from a Traditional Orthodox Christian context in the language of our day, to equip families in North America to live what they believe. Faithtree launched The Pursuit, a four-week long conversation for men this month.

The material presented in The Pursuit is taught by seasoned Orthodox clergy and theologians from multiple Orthodox Christian jurisdictions. It includes teachings on men as servant-leaders, men in relationships, overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of authentic manhood, and the pursuit of God in community.

"The Rise of Scripture" is a new audio publication recently released by the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies (OCABS). In this seminal work on the formation of the Bible, Fr. Paul Tarazi examines "the who, when, where, and why of Scripture and its purpose." Tarazi's presentation offers listeners a rare glimpse into the painstaking work of biblical scholarship. At each turn, he bolsters his groundbreaking thesis with meticulous detail, drawing upon decades of research in his field. "The Rise of Scripture" audio teaching is a total of 14 hours, 25 minutes.

Memory Eternal! Father Richard Peters of Williamston, MI, died at home on December 23, 2015. He was 78.

He was also born at home—the second of three sons born to Bertha and Dietrich Peters—on April 3, 1937, in Lansing. He graduated from Eaton Rapids high school, where he excelled in baseball, football, and basketball. He matriculated at Central Michigan University, where he met Janet Briggs of Scottville, Michigan. They were married in 1957.

A history major and ROTC cadet at Central, he was elected Student Body President his senior year, 1958, and was a Distinguished Military Graduate. He was a commissioned officer and an Airborne Ranger in the United States Army.

I pray that everyone is well and is as excited as I am to celebrate the blessed nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

As we approach one of the most glorious feast days of our liturgical year, we reflect on the magnitude of this day and how it has changed our lives forever. Without birth there is no death, and without death there is no resurrection. This is the time of year when we are reminded of all the beauty and wonder in this world, and that every gift we have comes from above.

Minneapolis, MN – The International Society for Orthodox Church Music (www.isocm.com) will host a pan-Orthodox music symposium at St Mary's Orthodox Cathedral from Wednesday, June 22 through Sunday, June 26, 2016. The event will include presentations and workshops, music reading sessions, rehearsals, and will culminate in a festive hierarchical All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy. The event will also feature a special concert by the critically-acclaimed vocal ensemble Cappella Romana.

According to Archpriest Ivan Moody, ISOCM's board chairman, the aim of this symposium is to bring together people involved in all aspects of music-making in the Orthodox Church - chanters, choir singers, composers, conductors and musicologists. Father Ivan said, "An event like this reinforces the idea that we can all learn from each other and together enrich the worship of the Church."

Memory eternal! Archdeacon Russell George Hodge, 89, of St. George Church in West St. Paul, Minnesota, peacefully feel asleep in Christ last evening at his home in South St. Paul. He is survived by his wife Shamassy Phyllis and their son Father Paul Hodge and his family.

The Very Rev. Dr. Joseph F. Purpura, chairman of the Department of Youth and Parish Ministry for the Archdiocese, alerts all high school juniors & seniors who may be interested in applying to a 10-day summer program at Hellenic College Holy Cross, that CrossRoad 2016 Applications are available now! CrossRoad is a ten-day academic summer institute that prepares high school juniors and seniors to make big life decisions and connect with the Orthodox Christian theological and spiritual tradition. Hosted on the scenic Hellenic College Holy Cross campus, overlooking the beautiful Boston skyline, participants experience daily worship, visit local parishes, tour Boston, and spend a day at the beach.

Our youth are our future: the Metropolitan Philip Youth Worker ScholarshipsWith the blessing of Metropolitan Joseph, the first six SOYO Metropolitan Philip Youth Worker Scholarships have been awarded to the following six people, each in the amount of $800, for the 2015-2016 Academic year. Five of the six recipients are studying in the St. Stephens Youth Ministry Concentration working towards a Master Degree in Applied Orthodox Theology with a concentration in Youth Ministry (more information available here) and one—Gregory Abdalah—is working on his Doctor of Ministry Degree at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.

All six of these recipients are members of a parish in the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America and all of them are currently doing youth ministry work on the parish and or diocesan level.

A CD of the Choir of St. Romanos from Beirut in concert at St. Nicholas Cathedral, Brooklyn, singing a variety of hymns of the Church in Arabic

The Bible for Today’s Family - New Testament, written in clear, easily grasped English that a child can understand—yet appreciated by parents, teens, and grandparents, too

The children's book, Pictures of God, which brings God and His saints vividly into children's lives through icons. The colorful pages are perfect for little hands in church, for explaining the world of icons in the first years of Sunday school, and for read-aloud time with little ones at home

Thanks to His Grace Bishop Thomas and the clergy of the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic, a new collection of inspirational readings is now available at www.antiochian.org/charleston/readings. The series "Spiritual Notes from the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic" (formerly "Notes from Bishop Thomas"), complied by Fr. Daniel Meyer, offers teachings selected from Sayedna Thomas' treasured collection of essays, articles, homilies and more, including many rare pieces from earlier decades of The Word. "Diocese of Charleston Bible Study" is a study of scripture from Fr. Stephen DeYoung and includes weekly scripture texts, reflections on the readings, and questions for further contemplation. In "Spiritual Nuggets from the Diocese of Charleston," Fr. Noah Bushelli provides brief reflections and quotations from Church fathers as a source of concise spiritual edification.

All three series are updated weekly, and Spiritual Notes and Bible Study pieces are also available in PDF format for easy download and printing. May God reward the efforts of Bishop Thomas and his dedicated priests in providing spiritual nourishment to the faithful of the Antiochian Archdiocese and all those who seek to hear the Word of God!

by Fr. George Shalhoub of the Basilica of St. Mary in Livonia, MichiganA sermon delivered Sunday, November 15, 2015, in the wake of the terror attacks in Beirut and Paris

Beloved,

In the light of the constant atrocities, murder, suicide bombings, the war ravaging the world today, I wish to share with you the following:

As we enter the Holy Advent Season, we shall also gather, as families, to celebrate Thanksgiving in the midst of a world gone mad. We need to keep our eyes open through prayer to Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, for the salvation of the world.

His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph has appointed His Grace Bishop Anthony (Michaels) as the new hierarchical overseer of the Department of Sacred Music. Paul Jabara and the entire Department of Sacred Music welcome His Grace with open arms and look forward to many years under his tutelage.

"As Orthodox young people gather, personal isolation ceases to influence the development of their Orthodox identity."

These are the words Archimandrite Gerasim, dean of St. Seraphim's Cathedral in Dallas and our keynote speaker, gave us before the start of the Orthodox Young Professionals Retreat held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from October 16-18, 2015. We felt his words to be true as a community of Orthodox young adults formed over the course of the three day retreat. Most of us were strangers to one another at the start, but soon became fast friends. Personal isolation fell away as we discovered a community of like-minded young adults who would support us in answering the call to "sanctify time and space" and to bring Christ into the midst of our everyday lives.